If you’re searching for “accounting services for small business South Africa”, chances are that you’re planning something big. Maybe you’ve got a small project on the go already, or maybe you’re still in the planning stage of this business. No matter where you are, you’re going to need professional accounting services if you’re to set out realistic plans for your business moving forward.
Once you have an accounting service collecting and presenting you with the right data, as well as helping advise you in the right direction, you’ll have set yourself on a clear path to success. This article is brought to you by SureBooks, a South African accounting service designed to help small businesses flourish.
Accounting Services For Small Business South Africa: Why Planning Ahead Is Important
Beginnings can be such delicate times, especially for small businesses trying their luck on the South African market, known as it is for its unpredictable and competitive nature. That’s why you will want to give your budding business every advantage possible in its nascency, nurturing it over the initial hurdles every starting business must face. One of the key tools that helps entrepreneurs do such a thing is professional accounting service for small business South Africa.
These professionals will help clear the murk around financial matters early on, providing you with the clarity to avoid any unfortunate surprises and set out future plans. Examples of these include pointing out risks to your business’s cash flow before they become real issues that might cripple it, or helping you make long-term decisions that support sustainable growth over short-term bursts.
It’s not just you, as the owner, who’s going to be looking out for these factors. Having established accounting services attached to your business helps you to build credibility with banks, potential investors and prospective partners, increasing the chances of success for your business.
Accounting Services For Small Business South Africa: Planning To Start A Small Business
The truth about building a financially secure business is that good bookkeeping has to start from day one; it shouldn’t simply be left until later. It may be tempting in these early stages to focus on the more exciting core elements of the business, but proper accounting will begin with registering the business in a way that complies with our South African laws and regulations. From there on, you’re going to want to draft realistic financial projections and budgets for the startup of the project, building a strong foundation to work from.
As early as possible, you’re going to want to start integrating the use of some sort of accounting software, to make all work moving ahead more efficient than it would be to sort all bookkeeping manually. Here at SureBooks, we use Xero, a trusted piece of software that helps you complete financial tasks reliably and easily.
You’re going to need very tidy books and clear signs of financial management if you have any hope of attracting the attention of financiers for your small business. As the owner of a new business, you may feel a little lost over which accounting services for small business South Africa and other service providers to choose from.
Well, the great news is that SureBooks has a pre-packaged bundle of services specifically designed to help you and your business through this stage. Called SureStart, for only R2200 per month, you’ll have access to a diverse range of services that cover all your basics. These include monthly reconciliations of up to one hundred transactions, weekly reconciliation and management using Receipt Bank, a monthly Xero health check and financial guidance targeted for small businesses specifically.
Accounting Services For Small Business South Africa: Planning For Taxes
Taxes are one of the very few things in life that are a certainty. While this may not necessarily be a pleasant fact, their inevitability makes them easier to plan for. South Africa’s SARS can be a rather strict entity, making sure all businesses and individuals are in compliance with its many rules, regulations and obligations.
This would be less of an issue if not for the complexity of many of those rules and regulations, which are also known to change fairly frequently. These are all things a small business has to plan ahead for and make the most of. Any errors related to tax issues can be disastrous for a small business, heaping upon them fines and penalties. These can financially cripple a business just starting to get its feet, but they can also drive away potential investors, banks or partners, leaving the business to flounder.
A smart entrepreneur won’t just look at ways in which to mitigate these potential crises; they will look for all possible expenses to deduct from their tax, leaving them with more free cash to reinvest in the business.
All of this, we are aware, is far easier said than done. That’s why we recommend that you, as a small business owner, rely on the expertise of accounting services for small business South Africa, rather than handle tax matters yourself. An accounting service will be able to devote its time and energy fully to these matters, using relevant experience and technology to handle the matters with an expert hand.
Inside knowledge of the financial world means that these services are also constantly on top of changes happening to tax rules and regulations, keeping your business ahead of the curve. This is what the SureBooks dedicated SureTaxes package is all about. From just R900 a month, this neat little bundle will expertly compile all of your financial statements, help to make both provisional and final tax return calculations and submit a record of annual returns to the CIPC (a notoriously tedious task, especially for the untrained).
Accounting Services For Small Business South Africa: Planning To Grow A Small Business
The underlying goal of most businesses is rather simple. They (or rather, their owners) want them to grow, expanding their influence and the profits they bring in. However, it is far from a given that all business will reach this stage. It takes careful planning on the part of the owner to usher in growth, especially sustainable growth.
One thing you’ll need for certain is timely and accurate financial reports, as they will help you to measure growth opportunities for your business. Based on these, you’ll be able to see where you need to reinvest and expand, to get the most bang for your buck.
You’ll also want to keep an eye on the progress of other businesses around you, measuring your progress against industry standards and helping to identify any possible edges you may need over the competition. Abide by these tenets and you’ll likely see growth in your business, which is a cause to celebrate.
That being said, you shouldn’t let that excitement get to your head and make you reckless. You’re going to want to manage all cash flow within your business very carefully in this stage, making sure every cent goes exactly where it can have the maximum effect. All of this is best handled by trusted accounting services for small business South Africa.
Professional accounting services will be able to keep a close eye on the internal workings of your business and the external industry standards, ensuring all progress is flowing in the right direction. The advice you’ll get from these services will be invaluable in making smart investments, taking out a great deal of the trial and error associated with the process for those going at it on their own.
SureBooks offers growing small businesses the SureGrowth package, which starts at R3300 per month. The services it offers are very similar to the SurePlus package (monthly reconciliations of up to one hundred transactions, weekly reconciliation and management using Receipt Bank, a monthly Xero health check and financial guidance targeted for small businesses specifically), though at a larger scale to accommodate increased cash flow and operational logistics. Whatever accounting service you secure, it ought to be scalable to grow continuously alongside the business it’s supporting.
Accounting Services For Small Business South Africa: Planning For Staff Satisfaction
For a small business without many employees, staffing might not seem like the biggest issue. Whether you plan on keeping a small workforce or a large one, you need to set a framework in place to handle a team of staff. Fail to do this in a timely manner, and the logistics and costs involved with staffing may overwhelm a small business, potentially crippling it. With accurate data on expenses and revenue, you’ll be able to plot out exactly how much can be invested into staff, which includes not only salaries but also training.
You’ll also be able to entertain the possibility of setting up incentive schemes and bonuses, if the figures show that such schemes can fit into your budget. You’re probably aware that the backbone of any business lies in the people who support it, and you won’t be able to drive a business to success without talented individuals to help you. Build their trust with transparent management of finances. Ensure their satisfaction with timely and accurate salary payments.
Many of these points can be addressed using any of our generalist SureBooks packages, but if you’re looking to laser focus on the issue of payments, there’s no better tool than the SurePay package, which starts at a paltry R500 per month. With this service at your business’s back, payments will be an effortless and flawless issue.
Accounting Services For Small Business South Africa: Conclusion
In conclusion, no small business can succeed without careful and calculated planning. While indeed, this will take no small amount of shrewdness from the part of the business owner, there’s no reason to leave all the planning to the entrepreneur. After all, with the core running of the business to handle, you may find yourself with little time or energy to plot out the financial course of your business, as you are preoccupied with the present.
That’s why accounting services for small businesses South Africa are so useful; they not only give you access to all the data and resources you need to steer a course for your business, but they also offer their own expertise and advice in making those plans.
From taking the very first steps to anticipating taxes, pushing your business into growth or handling payments, accounting services can help you perform these tasks proactively, preparing your business for them before they even arrive. All of the services you need to plan a path to success are offered by SureBooks, an accounting service designed specifically for small businesses in South Africa.
